Daily Times

Since the inception of this country, and only with very brief exceptional periods, a blatant class biased approach, one that is thoroughly anti-trade union and anti-working class, pervades our society. Trade unions are considered by the Pakistani ruling class as being worse than corrupt politicians or mafia bosses. One often hears, even amongst the most educated sections of society, the sort of arguments that are more reminiscent of bygone eras than a democratic society.
Recently, I had a chance encounter with the trade union leader of Coca-Cola Beverages Pakistan Limited, Nasurallah Chohan. Although internationally Coca-Cola finds it very important to obey labour laws and not be embroiled in embarrassing labour disputes, the local management arguably prefers to continue within the framework of traditional Pakistani upper-class values. In the larger scheme of things, the issue itself may seem rather limited and local. It is no different from labour disputes all over the country. Workers contend that in order to weaken the union, a Voluntary Separation Service was offered earlier this year and management claims that it was only in order to increase efficiency. Workers claim that this package was forcefully implemented and is unacceptable to them; management claims it was voluntarily accepted by the workers. The workers claim that management violated the stay order of the National Industrial Relations Commission (NIRC) and management claims this was within the law. The workers continue to agitate in front of the office of the Department of Labour (DOL) and Lahore Press Club and management claims these are troublemakers agitating for no rhyme or reason. However, in the larger scheme of things, such struggles have wider significance.
Consider, for instance, the formation of the republics in European history. Any nuanced reading of that period shows that 19th century republics did not grant universal franchise to workers, women, people of other races, people without property and people without education. If anything, the mandate of that republic was restricted to the urban propertied classes. How then did this change in the broader context of Europe?
It was really the labour movement that opened up societies to the concept of universal suffrage. In the UK, it was the Chartists, the first working class political party, who for the first time compelled the state to grant universal suffrage to the working class. One can survey almost any European country and what one discovers is that universal suffrage only begins as a consequence of the development of the labour movement. Similarly, in Pakistan, it was really the upsurge of the working class in 1968 that for the first time brought democracy to this country. Whatever myths we may create and teach at universities and colleges in courses on democratic transitions and whatever rhetoric we may espouse on mainstream media, the fact is that all other things being equal, the development of democracy is directly linked to the development of the labour movement in any given country. Hence, it should be self-evident that the crushing of the organised labour movement is really a fundamental attack on democratic values and the democratic dispensation of the country.
This simple point of view is accepted and acknowledged today by the world community, by the United Nations, by the International Labor Organisation and by the Constitution of Pakistan. Accepted in theory and at the level of rhetoric, there seems to be absolutely no will to implement it in practice on the part of either the state or most mainstream political parties that remain beholden to ruling class interests, whatever their rhetoric may otherwise suggest.
The struggle, therefore, of workers and trade unions, such as the one described above that is currently being waged between workers and the Pakistani management of Coca-Cola Beverages Pakistan Limited, is not merely restricted to and should not be understood as being the sole concern of the workers directly affected by the policies of individual factories or even of the state. However, its concern must be understood as engaging and encompassing all of society. This requires the fundamental qualitative break from the negative narrative and anti-working class narrative that is promoted and supported not just by the state but also by opinion makers in society as a whole.
At this time, where the future of democracy is being discussed in every corner of Pakistan, where a new Pakistan is being proposed to replace the old Pakistan, where there seems to be at least in certain sections of society a human thirst to do away with what is called VIP culture, the role of the working class and in particular the organised labour movement remains conspicuous by its absence in this entire debate. One has to ask both the supporters of the new and old democratic Pakistan whether at any point in time they are going to turn their attention towards the most pressing democratic concerns of the vast majority of Pakistani people: those who live by their labour?

The writer is an assistant professor of Political Science at LUMS, spokesperson for Laal (the band), and general secretary of the Communist Mazdoor Kissan Party (CMKP)